Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door safety barricade. In particular, the present invention relates to a device for barricading a door from the inside during an emergency situation.
Description of Related Art
The more frequent occurrence of intruders in schools, businesses and government facilities has highlighted safety needs for people working at or using such facilities, such as students in a school. Schools and other facilities are constantly attempting to prevent an intruder from entering classrooms, offices, and the like. In an intruder situation, many places go into a lockdown situation where people remain in place. The responders can take an average of 18 minutes before they can reach the situation if no security is readily present and, as such, keeping the occupants of a room safe from entry by an intruder is the critical effort while waiting for responders. An effective door barricade is needed to allow time for the responders to arrive and protect the room occupants.
In schools, and most buildings, there are many kinds of doors. Some swing outward, while others swing inwards. In addition, some doors are double doors that open in the middle of the two doors, either in or out. In addition, many schools and the like do not allow door locks on the interior. Where there are door locks, they require going outside the classroom in the hallway into the line of danger in order to utilize the door lock.
Many rooms in these situations have a window in the door, or next to the door, making it relatively easy to break the window and reach in to the door knob and unlock and open the door.
The devices attempting to deal with the situation have used various approaches. There are devices that attach to the door jamb, but the door can still easily be kicked in and break the door jamb. There are a number of devices that attach between the inside face of the door and the floor, but they all have a removable pin, key or the like, which can be lost or stolen, rendering the device useless in an emergency.